Giga Origins
by LinkmasterX9
Summary: One thing no one really knows about the famous Bruiser from the Bronx is his super form called Giga Mac. Where did this come from, and how? Here's the tale of how the form came to be, right before Mac takes on the WVBA.
1. Chapter 1

It was the dead of night, the small bedroom was silent, the moonlight shined through the window. The rays stretched far upon a bed, where a young man, about the age of seventeen, was sleeping. He tossed and turned, his breath uneven, sweat dripping slowly down his face. Suddenly, the lad awoke with a start, breathing heavily, he felt a small, sharp pain on the back of his neck. When he checked to see if there was blood, but found nothing out of the ordinary. This was not the first time he woken up from his nightmares, and the worst part is that he cannot quite remember what exactly happen, not even once.

"Not again." he mumbled as his breathing was turning back to normal. The boy didn't bother going back to sleep, so he began reading a book that was laying on his night table. He felt pretty silly to have this become a routine, but who can complain over something forgotten? Several hours passed when he glanced at the window, only to be greeted by the sun climbing up from the horizon. Dawn has arrived in the Bronx again.

"Hey Mac! Time to get up son!" an energetic voice called. A small smile cracked on the young man's face.

"I'm up already Doc!" he responded. Laughter sounded through the apartment, making Mac chuckle as well. The lad hopped out of bed and got dressed in his usual clothes, a black tank top, and a bright pink hoodie with matching sweatpants. Mac exited the bedroom and headed towards the kitchen, where a somewhat tall, albeit, plump, dark skinned man was waiting.

"Did you sleep well son?" he asked cheerfully.

"Yeah, for the most part." Mac replied. Doc raised an eyebrow at the boy's response.

"Another one of those dreams again?" he questioned. The lad nodded, making Doc sigh a bit. This made him always worry, despite the times Mac told him he was fine. It made him wonder if the young man was hiding something, but then again, he has faith that the boy wouldn't do anything like that either. Even with the rough beginning of raising him, Mac was an overall good and trustworthy kid.

"I'm alright, a little loss in sleep is not gonna ruin my trainin'!" he said, and threw a couple of fast punches to prove himself. Doc let out a hearty chuckle, feeling relieved.

"Alright Mac baby I believe you, but before we get started I need you to run to the store." he said.

"Huh? I thought it was your turn, don't be trying to slip it on me!" Mac replied with a snarky smile on his face.

"I have no idea what you're talking about son." Doc said, trying to play innocent. The lad let out a small sigh of defeat, he knows that his coach will out play him like the many times before.

"Alright, you win, I'll be back in a while." Mac responded. Doc handed the boy some money and with a small wave, Mac left the apartment complex. Though the weather was chilly for an early autumn, the streets were bustling with cars and pedestrians trying to get to where they needed to go. Seeing this kind of setting always made Mac more energetic, and with that he decided to jog the long way to the local market instead of the typical shortcuts he took. The back allies of the city were much longer, but the boy didn't mind that, to him it was another part of his training for the WVBA. That was his dream ever since he was younger, to be a boxing champion and to be apart of the big leagues. This was sparked even further when the lad discovered Doc himself was a champion at one point as well. What are the odds of that? After a few more minutes of walking, Mac ended up at a small, but nicely decorated building. When he entered through the doorway a small bell rung, with the cashier at the far left greeting him. The boy also said hello before walking down one of the many aisles.

"I'll start with the chocolate first before I get the rest." Mac told himself quietly. He still vividly remembered the time he forgot to buy chocolate for Doc; that day ended unpleasant for the both of them. After shivering at the thought of it happening again and grabbing the candy, the young man wandered around, collecting any necessary items, and double checked every once in awhile to see if everything is in order. He felt that he forgotten nothing and headed to the checkout, where two kids around his age were hanging out nearby.

"Did ya hear about the new group of thugs creepin' around?" one of them whispered loudly. This caught Mac's attention, and he decided to listen in on the conversation.

"No, I never really pay attention about that kind of stuff." the other replied.

"Well, you should, these guys are crazy, going into the main streets and mugging people. They must have a good reason to do so, otherwise they're stupid as hell." the first kid said. Mac was suspicious about the whole thing, certainly no criminal would rob people in such an open area. But then again, he've done it himself when he was a child. ...Trying to ignore memory lane, Mac grabbed a newspaper on the rack at the counter. Sifting through the pages, one particular section caught his eye. It was a story about a doctor from a children's clinic that went missing a couple weeks ago, and this made the boy uncomfortable. It wasn't necessarily the story itself that's making Mac this way, it was because of a doctor being associated with children. Like if it was yesterday, he remembered being examined by doctors constantly for who knows why, and he always asked them something, but he cannot find the words that he said to them.

"Would you like to buy a copy sir?" the cashier asked, making Mac snap back into reality.

"Oh, no thank you." the lad responded, putting the newspaper back neatly. Feeling a bit silly for zoning out like that, Mac left the shop with his purchased items. He didn't want to waste anymore time in the city, so he quickly rushed back to his apartment. After snagging a chocolate bar and an old bike, Doc and Mac began training.

"You got this son! Keep going!" the man shouted, cycling down the sidewalk. Mac was behind him, running and trying to catch up to his coach with each step. The boy always found this to be his favorite part of training, since it shows how far he came from the beginning. When he started he was always falling behind, or had to stop due to fatigue, but he never gave up. Now, he felt like he can run alongside Doc without too much trouble. As he was about to attempt it, something caught his eye. It was a couple, walking alongside a little girl that looked similar to both of them. Mac slowed down, examining them, yet he wasn't sure why. He felt...strange. Was it envy? How can that be? He has Doc who cares about him so much. That wasn't it, and it bothered the lad heavily until a phrase popped into his mind: "Will I have a family?" Mac stopped jogging, he was locked in a trance. Why did this bug him so much? His mind raced, trying to figure out this oddity, but he was getting frustrated, gritting his teeth in his closed jaw. Suddenly, he felt someone touch his shoulder.

"Mac, are you alright?" Doc asked, standing next to the young man. Mac didn't even notice him there.

"Yeah, I'm fine." the lad uttered. Doc's brows furrowed, he knew in a snap that something was wrong.

"How about we do the running later, and work on strength." the coach suggested. Mac nodded, he didn't feel like running anyway.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone, sorry this chapter took a while to be completed due to school and other events. Thank you all for waiting and we hope you enjoy!**

* * *

The two strolled down the street, Mac was pushing the bike so Doc didn't have to. After a few silent moments passed, the coach decided to speak up.

"Do you want to talk about it son?" he asked in a light tone. The lad shook his head, despite wanting to. He never felt frustrated over something so basic, yet here he was, grinding his teeth a bit. What was causing him to act like this? It felt like it was on the tip of his tongue, and that was driving him crazy. With a sigh, Mac decided to get over the whole situation, for now that is. He can always talk to Doc about it later after all. Eventually, the duo made it to a small warehouse near the apartments, and once they got inside Mac set the bicycle against the wall.

"Alright, let's begin with some push ups." Doc said. The boy nodded eagerly, and they began their training for a second time. Within several hours, Mac accomplished multiple sets of arm curls, push ups, inverted sit ups, and many more exercises. He felt near exhausted by the time he got to jump roping, pushing himself to hop faster and faster.

"Harder Mac baby! I know you can do better!" Doc shouted. Mac, feeling a burst of energy, went faster than he ever did before, and ending with him jumping straight up. The rope was spinning in high speeds and dust flew around a bit in the warehouse. Doc was proud, albeit, a bit astonished by the boy's accomplishment. Mac landed, panting heavily from using all his energy like that.

"Amazing son! You made my eye's water." the coach said enthusiastically. The boy laughed in between breaths.

"Maybe it's the dust that got in your eyes." he said jokingly. Doc chuckled heartedly, wiping a bit of debris from his eye.

"Alright, go take a breather, I'll be back in a bit." he replied and he headed to a side room off of the warehouse. Now alone, Mac sat down, his back was resting on the small, homemade ring that he practiced on for the past few years. Feeling more relaxed, he focused his attention on one thing that was pestering him all day; what caused him to be so upset earlier? The young man tried to think at every angle why that one small question would come to him so suddenly. "Will I have a family?" He couldn't exactly piece where the idea even originated, but at the same time, he felt he knew the answer. However, it also doesn't make sense at all either, after all, the lad had Doc; what more could he ask for? The cycle of repetitious thoughts only angered Mac once more. He gripped his water bottle aggressively out of frustration, trying to come up to some conclusion to a seemingly simple, yet complex question.

"Why?" the boxer muttered to himself. He couldn't take the aggravation much more, he threw the bottle he had at the wall. The loud slam echoed throughout the room; the bottle itself cracked open and the water flowed out until it created a small pool on the floor. Mac huffed a bit.

"Now I have to clean my own mess up again." he thought, scolding himself for letting his anger get the better of him. Grabbing a towel, the boy began to clean up the water, and on cue, quick footsteps sounded louder throughout the warehouse.

"What happened? Are you hurt?" Doc asked as he hastily entered the room.

"Nah, but this water bottle is." Mac responded, holding it up for his coach to see. Doc gave a slight huff of relief, but at the same time, he was concerned since he knew what probably happened. The young man was aware of this, therefore he walked over to a small bench, sat down, and waited for Doc to follow after.

"Something on your mind son?" the coach asked as he sat down next to Mac. The boy sighed, even hesitating for a moment.

"I have this...dumb question in my head that was bugging me." he said. The man waited patiently for Mac to continue. "It doesn't makes sense, but the same time it feels like it does… I dunno."

"I don't think I quite understand; what is the question on your mind?" Doc asked lightly. There was a pause.

"Will I have a family." the boy replied bluntly. Doc gave him a confused look, wondering why that thought would even occur as well. To him, it didn't make sense at all, but his thought was interrupted when Mac spoke.

"See? It really is stupid!" he said, getting angry at himself once more. The coach was taken back a bit from the sudden shift in mood.

"How can I even ask such a thing, but I feel I know why, and….aaaaaagh!" Mac shouted, and placed his hands on his head in aggravation. Doc laid a hand on the boy's shoulder, lowering the intensity a bit.

"Take a couple deep breaths Mac." he replied softly. The young man did what he was told, despite it not helping much. He can never shake off this anger so easily, at least, not like when he was a kid. The worst part is that they did try visiting a psychologist for Mac's unnatural short temper and long cooldown; it resulted with dead ends all over the place. This was due to the lad not remembering much of his childhood, besides roaming the streets and meeting Doc.

"I'm sorry." Mac said quietly; he can only imagine how stressful this must be for his coach.

"It's alright, sometimes you'll get a nasty bite of chocolate, but it won't kill you." Doc replied. The boy smiled a bit from the comment, hearing those kind of words always cheered him up a bit, even if they're silly.

"Jeez, how did you survive my attitude when I was a kid?" he asked. Doc laughed.

"I'm not gonna lie son, you were a handful when you were young." he said nostalgically, "But I never regretted adopting you son, and don't you forget that. It would break my heart!" Mac was surprised to hear that, but felt relieved as well.

"I still remember the time you tried to fight me in the warehouse, you were such a bold child, even when scared." Doc said. Mac remembered that day clearly; it was a snowy night, he was only seven at the time. He was cold, only his clothes and scarf were giving him warmth. Desperate, the boy hid in an apartment complex, looking for any unlocked rooms to enter, take any food he could carry, and flee. Luckily for Mac, one such door was open, which he immediately walked inside. The room was the most fanciest thing he'd seen, a black leather couch stood in the middle of the room under a basic, yet flattering carpet. A small kitchen with an island was off to the right, and even further to that were stairs, possibly leading to the bedrooms. Snapping out of his trance, the child entered the kitchen and began gathering any food item he could carry. However, this was interrupted by a door clicking open, which made Mac panic and drop everything onto the ground. The boy hid in a cupboard before the owner walked inside hastily.

"What in the world?" a man's voice spoke. Mac covered his loud breathing with his scarf, terrified of the approaching footsteps.

"I swear if those teenagers were back in here again I'm going to call the police." the man muttered to himself as he was picking up the mess and putting it on the table. After a couple of minutes, the man walked away and began to head upstairs to get himself more comfortable clothing before fully finishing the job. Mac opened the cupboard a crack, noticing no sight of the person. Taking the opportunity, he left from his hiding place and began walking quickly to the exit. What the child didn't notice however, was that his scarf, which was much too big for him, was under his foot, causing the him to trip. The thud echoed through the apartment, and temporarily stunning the poor kid.

"Owww…" he moaned softly to himself before getting up.

"Hey!" a voice shouted from the top of the stairs before footsteps sounded throughout the area. In a panic, Mac ran and open the door and ran out to the hallways, closing it behind him. Unfortunately, the boy's scarf got caught on the door. He tried to pull it free until the door flew open, causing him to fall backwards. The man rushed out and was shocked to see the boy being the perpetrator of attempted robbery. Mac looked at the tall, dark-skinned, plump man before running away out of terror.

"Wait!" the man shouted, but the child did not look back and kept sprinting. The person decided to chase after the boy, trying to figure out what is going on. Mac kept running until he was out of the streets, and he found an old warehouse with the door being open a crack. He ran inside, looking for any place to hide from his pursuer. The child found a smaller room and headed there. There was a desk and a chair, with objects littered all over the place. Mac grabbed a clipboard and hid behind the desk, prepared to fight if he absolutely had to. The man finally entered the building, looking for the child that fled in there.

"He couldn't have gone that far." he muttered to himself. At this point, he was more concerned of why a child was running around alone. He searched carefully, under the benches, the unhanged sandbags, everything. The noise he was making put Mac on the edge of fear. The person finally decided to enter the small side room, which made the child panic, since he realized he was now cornered.

"Get away from me!" the boy shouted, throwing the clipboard at him. The man, surprised by the sudden attack, still managed to dodge the object.

"Woah! Take it easy kid." the man said lightly as he was slowly approaching the desk. Mac however, continued to throw any object he was able to grab at him. When the child realized there was nothing left for him to use, he hid far under the desk, trying to make himself as small as possible. Mac was beyond terror, he doesn't know what this stranger was going to do with him.

"It's alright, come out of there." the man said, crouching down so he can get a better look at the kid. What he didn't expect though, was Mac punching him in the face the moment he saw him. The man flinched back in pain, he never felt such a strong punch from a small child. Now more prepared, he tried again, catching the second assault from the boy.

"I'm sorry! P-please don't h-hurt me!" Mac shouted in fear, who was shaking and crying.

"Hey, take it easy kid, I'm not gonna hurt you." the man said softly, trying to calm the boy down. Mac looked at him bewilderedly before being helped up from under the desk. He was still shaking tremendously when he was standing, wiping away tears with the sleeve of his sweater.

"Now, what's your name?" the man asked gently. The child stayed silent, for he didn't remember, nor even had a name. Thinking that the boy was still scared, the man decided to speak up.

"Well, my name is Jerome, but everyone calls me Doc." he said. Mac only glanced at him before looking away.

"Do you know where your parents are?" Doc asked. The child shook his head.

"I don't… have a family." Mac muttered somberly. This left many questions for the man; where is this child's parents? If they're truly gone, does he live in the orphanage nearby and ran away?

"Can you tell me more?" he asked.

"...They left me." Mac replied. Hearing that broke Doc's heart; it's no wonder why this kid is sneaking around, stealing food and all. The silence lingered for a few moments.

"Come on, let's get you somewhere safe." Doc finally said. Mac looked at the man, surprised by what he'd heard. Holding his hand, Doc led the boy down to the police station. He spoke to the police officer, trying to get the child some sort of help.

"Unfortunately this is a common case at this time, even if this is the youngest one we've seen. I would send him to the orphanage to see if they'll take him in." the worker said to Doc. Mac's eyes widened from hearing that, he began to shake once more.

"What's wrong?" Doc asked, looking at the child with concern. The boy shook his head, tears falling down his cheek again.

"I don't want to go back there." he whispered. Doc was shocked. He realized that this kid was from the orphanage, and they dumped him on the streets. What kind of monster would do such a thing? Feeling his anger rising, Doc decided that this has gone far enough.

"It's alright...son, I'll take care of you." he said. Mac stared at the man, shocked by what he had heard, especially after the trouble that he caused for him.

...That was all Mac remembered before someone shook him on the shoulder.

"Earth to Mac, are you there?" Doc asked before taking a bite from his chocolate bar. The young man forgot he was talking with his coach.

"Yeah, sorry." he replied, feeling a bit silly for zoning out.

"It's alright, let's relax for the rest of the day, alright?" Doc said. Mac nodded, and both of them headed back to the apartment to discuss various training regimes.


	3. Chapter 3

Days went by, the autumn air was only becoming more cold, and the tree leaves began to change color. It was almost sunrise, and Mac once again was awake before it. This time however, he wasn't reading a book like he usually would, rather he was pondering about his childhood. Ever since he became outraged by his own intrusive thought, he questioned how much he knew about himself and his past. From what he can recall, his earliest memory was possibly around five years old, where he was examined by multiple physicians, which begs the question of rather if he had something wrong with him, or if it was an average procedure. The lad also remembered some of his time at the orphanage, despite most of those memories being very hazy. Most of the children would be with each other, while a worker, a figure Mac cannot place a face on, would supervise him for some unknown reason. He was probably six at that time. That's the thing that made Mac so uncomfortable, the fact that every bit of information he did know was too ambiguous and the people he'd seen, he couldn't even recognize them. It raised a question in his head: Does Doc know anything? Feeling that was the best place to start for answers, the young man headed downstairs and waited in the kitchen until Doc woke up. Of course, boredom reigned superior after several minutes, therefore Mac began to cook some eggs to kill time and hunger.

"Cooking breakfast for me? I'm flattered son." Doc joked as he entered the room suddenly. Mac jumped a bit from surprise and almost dropped the spatula that was in his hand.

"Yeah, morning Doc." he said before setting a plate of food on the table for his coach. Silence filled the room as the two ate, prompting Mac to speak up, but for some reason he felt nervous. What would Doc say? It can range to anything in the young man's mind, since nothing really adds up to something coherent. At the same time... what does he have to lose?

"Doc," Mac started softly, the man looked at him, "About what happened a while back, with my outburst... do you think it had something to do with when I was a kid?" Doc's expression became a bit more serious. He sat there for a moment, thinking the boy's question over carefully.

"I'm honestly not sure son." he stated. There was a pause. "Has something been on your mind?"

"Well…" Mac's voice drifted off. He never told Doc about his memories from the orphanage, just only his dreams about being examined. The lad hesitated a bit, and took a deep breath.

"I remember times where I was at the orphanage, there was someone watching me, and I was never around the other kids from what I remember." he said. Doc's brows narrowed a bit, which concerned Mac.

"That seems, odd to me." the coach said.

"What do you mean?" Mac asked a bit nervously.

"...The orphanage told me that you never were there in the first place." Doc replied. The boy's eyes widened a bit. How can that be true? That orphanage was the only easily identified one in all of the Bronx; did he come from somewhere further away? No, there was no way a seven year old can survive such a long distance, especially with areas that have crimes reported from there.

"Of course, I didn't believe them." Doc continued.

"So what did you do then?" Mac asked.

"I decided to take the issue to court, it was a tough process I swear." he answered. Mac thought the situation as strange; why would the orphanage lie about not having a child in their care like that? Did it have something to do with all those medical procedures, and if so, how? The lad closed his eyes a bit, trying to shake his wild imagination from going too over the top.

"Are you alright Mac baby?" Doc asked.

"Yeah I'm alright, just over thinking is all." the young man replied. After another moment of silence, an idea came to him, what if he went there? If he bluffed enough, he can possibly find a record of him being there, as farfetched as it seems.

"Is it still open?" Mac asked.

"No, I think it closed about five years ago after some incident." Doc answered. The lad's eyebrows raised a bit.

"It didn't involve you son, it was some finance scandal or something like that." the coach said hastily. Mac gave a slight sigh of relief, though he wondered why he did tense up in the first place. Even with the fact it was closed, it gave the lad an easier chance to snoop around to find any abandoned documents, despite the chance of those documents being confiscated by the police. But then again, Mac wants to have some closure, and those feelings won't shake off so easily.

"Anyways, I have errands to attend to today, so we'll have to hold off the training until later. Be careful if you're going outside son." Doc said, then he began cleaning up the table. Mac was a bit excited; he now has his chance to investigate, without having to make some terrible excuse. With nothing else standing in his way, he began his search for the orphanage once Doc has left to tend to his errands. The boy took a slightly old map from a drawer, set an alarm on his digital watch, and headed out to the city. Like usual, the area was quite busy, cars were zooming and the people were active with their routines. Mac glanced at the map and following the route that should take him to the place; once or twice he bumped into pedestrians and was greeted with quick apologies or curses that were muttered under their breath. After a while, Mac found himself lost and asked where the orphanage was, which he got an answer with an awkward look from whoever answered his question. He couldn't blame them. The place is abandoned after all. What felt like hours, the lad finally found the orphanage, which looked like something from a cliched horror movie. The building was in ruins, several mirrors were shattered, old wood was broken and scattered all over the place, there were holes in the walls, and the field around it was taken over by wild plants. Mac shuddered a bit from its dismal condition, tense that this place used to be functional. He headed slowly up the old steps that led to the door, each step creaked and groaned under his light weight, warning him of the possible chance of collapsing. The young man gripped the doorknob and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. He shook the knob hard to see if the door itself was frail, but to his surprise it was still relatively strong.

"Now what?" he muttered to himself. Right then an idea popped to his head: he could enter through a window. The boy looked around the building, though none of the windows seem to be able to open normally, but a couple were broken due to whatever possible vandalism fell upon the building. It was decided at that point. Mac picked up a large rock, and hurled it into the window. The glass shattering and the rock landing onto the floor inside echoed loudly, and a huge jagged hole was left of the window. The young man carefully climbed inside the building, not feeling very guilty about his contribution to the destruction of this place. Inside, the building was covered in a cloud of dust, cobwebs hung around the place and a couple moths flew around from the disturbance Mac created. Each step he took echoed, his breathing cut through the silence. Everything in this place was foreign, but somehow familiar to the lad. The first and second floor, connected by staircases on the sides of the wall, had rooms evenly next to each other. He glanced in one of them on the first floor. It had a couple old, musty beds with several dressers that were molding from water that somehow got into the room. Mac didn't think much of it and proceeded down one of the halls, leading to a kitchen. A few stoves had old rusted pots resting on them, and inside was food decaying. Several rotten piles of unrecognizable mush on the counters were infested by flies and other insects. The smell of it all hit the young man hard, causing him to gag and cover his mouth and nose with his shirt.

"That's freaking disgusting!" Mac exclaimed. He quickly left the area, wondering why someone, anyone for that matter, left the kitchen in an intolerable state that it was. Returning to the main hall, the lad went up the steps slowly, making sure none of them collapse under him. When he got halfway up, he heard something that made him stop. It sounded like laughter or sorts, but the boy thought it was merely the wood creaking. When he reached the top, he heard the sound again, which made him catch his own breath. This place was getting him paranoid, but he cannot leave, not yet at least. He cautiously proceeded, passing by ruined rooms, until he reached one at the end of the hall. There was a faded plaque above the withering door frame that read "Playroom" in the usual blockish writing. Mac opened the door slowly, and inside was withering children's drawings covering the walls, an old rocking chair was in the corner of the room, beneath it was a carpet that needed desperate cleaning. The young man looked at the drawings; they didn't hold any significance to him, at least, not like the main lobby. Nothing really stuck out to him. He began to leave the room until he heard something very faint.

"Gather around children, it's story time." a woman's voice said almost inaudibly. Mac immediately turned around in bewilderment, only to see for a split second a woman in the chair, holding a book. He couldn't remember if she had a face or not. When he saw the chair in his full view, the woman was gone. Mac's breathing became shallow, there was no way that could have been a ghost. This place was messing with his head, that's the only conclusion he came up with. The boy left the room in a hurry, not wanting to be there anymore. He immediately headed downstairs, contemplating about leaving or persist just a bit longer, until a new thought hit him. Were there any back rooms? When he reached the bottom, he looked around the halls on the first floor for any sign of a side room. There was none. Going back down the halls to the lobby, Mac looked out the window as he was walking pass it. He didn't take notice of it the first time, and gazed out of it. Beyond the overgrowth, there seemed to be a small fence for a garden of sorts. It was consumed by weeds and insects such as gnats infested the place. Mac stared at the spot for quite some time; he had a nagging feeling about it. Then it struck him, he remembered a voice telling him to follow from that spot he was at.

"We have to go through the kitchen today." the voice said. The kitchen? What could be hidden in there? The lad quickly headed to the area. He was anxious, he finally had a possible clue leading to his identity. He covered his nose and mouth with his shirt and grabbed the handle of the door. He paused, mentally preparing himself of the abominable smell, until a sharp beeping sound rang. Mac jumped from the noise, until he realized it was his watch that was the source of the sound. He had completely forgotten about it. He turned it off and looked at the time. It was late. The young man knew Doc would get worried if he's gone for too long, so he began to leave. He would come back some other time soon, the place wasn't going anywhere after all. After unlocking and going through the front door, Mac left the orphanage and began to head back to the city. While walking, he thought about the disturbing occurrence in the playroom, wondering if that really happened or not. Along with that, he questioned what can possibly be beyond the kitchen of the place, and whether it would help him remember anything. As he was pondering, he stopped when he saw someone walking down the sidewalk, wearing a red sports jacket and eating a chocolate bar.

"Doc!" Mac called out as he raced towards him. The coach turned around and smiled at the lad.

"Hey son! What are you doing wandering about?" he asked happily.

"Not much, just wandering around and getting some air." Mac replied. The two started to walk together, with Doc talking about the errands he had to do. Time flew by as they were conversing, and everyone has gone home, with the exception of a car or two passing by once in awhile. They didn't mind, since the two were almost back home and they were having a good time. However, they didn't notice a small group of people in the alleyways watching them.

"You're ready for the training tomorrow?" Doc asked.

"Yeah, I can't wait honestly. It's weird not going through the routine." Mac replied, making his coach chuckle. Without warning, a pair of hands grabbed the two by their collars and yanked them into the alleyway, where no bystander can see them. Mac was thrown to a side of a building, and before he realized what was going on he was surrounded by two men who were much bigger and more muscular than him.

"Alright, give us what you have old man." an unfamiliar voice demanded. Mac looked over and saw Doc, who was held down by two other men on the opposite side of the alley. They were surrounded, with the man in the center supposedly being the leader of them all.

"We got nothing, we don't want any trouble." the coach responded nervously.

"Pfft, ya think I was born yesterday? I saw ya coming out with cash in hand." the thug spatted. With a snap of his fingers, one of the man's cronies kicked Doc in the side, making him hunch over in pain.

"Doc!" Mac yelled. He managed to slip by the men who blocked his way and threw a punch at the leader, but he missed. The perpetrator forcefully slammed his elbow into the boy's stomach, which made him stagger. As if time slowed down, Mac saw the man's foot coming towards him with brute force. He tried to move, raise an arm, anything to protect himself… He couldn't. He felt the force of the impact and flew backwards a bit. His head slammed first to the ground, he can feel the blood slowly flow out of the wound that was just made.

"Ya damn brat." the thug muttered, and shifted his attention to Doc once more. The trainer was horrified by what he saw, his pupil… his son, hurt from trying to help him. He felt helpless, he knew that with his age that he can't take on five men at once. He was about to give in to the criminal's demand until groaning can be heard. Mac was forcing himself onto his feet, his breathing was heavy and his legs were shaking badly.

"Run! Mac just get out of here!" Doc shouted desperately. He can't bear to see the boy get hurt like that again. Mac however, lunged at the gang leader with surprising speed. The young man managed to grab him by the shirt in the chaos and punched him a couple times in the face. Mac was furious, he will not let this man get away with hurting his coach. The other thugs pried the lad off their leader and threw him to the wall again, which made Mac drop to his hands and knees. He used everything he had left to attack that criminal. The leader walked over to Mac and kicked him in the chest and face repeatedly.

"Who the hell do you think you are!? Trying to attack me!?" he shouted in fury. Mac didn't drop to the ground from the assault, he wouldn't give the punk the satisfaction. His face was battered and bleeding, and he felt nothing but pain and anger inside him. After the frenzy, the thug glared at Doc.

"I'm done playing games, give me the money, or I'll kill you and make him watch." he threatened. To assert his point, he pulled out a switchblade and opened it, the blade shined a bit from the light from a street lamp nearby. The criminal and his cronies surrounded Doc, making him fear for Mac and his own life. The coach drew a blank, he didn't know what to do, nor if he could. Mac watched as the men swarmed towards him. Something deep inside him snapped. He felt engulfed in rage.

"Get… away from him." he growled. His voice didn't sound normal. It was almost animal-like. The gang leader turned towards the young man and glared, still angered from what happened earlier.

"What did you say to me!?" he demanded. Mac felt surges of pain in his entire body, it felt like he was going to explode. He heard his shirt stretch way beyond its limits, and he was foaming from the mouth slightly through his gritted teeth. The thug took a step back, startled by what he was seeing. When Mac looked dead at him, his pupils and irises were unnaturally small, like a demon possessed him and was ready to kill everything in its sights. Mac roared two words, his voice sounded like a beast.

"GET AWAY."


	4. Chapter 4

Doc only heard the frightened screams of the thugs being drowned out by roars of something he could not describe. The soul piercing howls made the trainer cover his ears and protect himself from whatever atrocity that was occurring around him. He was silently praying that Mac escaped somehow. In a matter of seconds, everything was dead silent. The man opened his eyes with a start, when he looked around no one was there. The criminals were gone, but what happened? That's when he heard heavy breathing. They were jagged; they didn't sound human. Doc looked around and saw a large figure glare at him. He towered over the trainer, which made him roughly over seven feet tall in a hunched pose. His face was in a horrid scowl; his bloodied nose stained the teeth that were exposed. Long, black hair spiked out all over the place, making him look wicked. The beast-man's body was absurdly muscular; it can make a bear look scrawny in comparison. There were torn pieces of cloth lingering on him; the shorts were surprisingly intact despite the tightness. What frightened Doc however, were the eyes that pierced his soul. In the lighting, they seemed to be black and small, but they had malice etched all over it.

The coach sprang up and fled deeper in the alley. The creature followed, quickly gaining on him with an angered roar. Doc tripped, and hit the ground. He tried to back away, but his back hit an open dumpster. He was now cornered by the beast, who was now growling like an aggressive wolf. The man, slowly approached Doc, until he suddenly stopped. Inside the dumpster was a cracked mirror, and the beast was looking right at it. The trainer had no idea why he stopped all of the sudden. The beast-man let out a cry that almost resembled a frightful whimper. He ran down the turn of the alley, which Doc knew was a dead end. The coach was speechless; he couldn't comprehend what had occurred. He slowly got up and looked down to where the creature had run.

Then something struck him. Where was Mac? He quickly rushed back to the scene of the crime, before that man comes back. He frantically looked around; trying to find any sign of the boy, but all he saw was scattered pieces of cloth on the ground. Was that Mac's shirt? It had to be, but why was it all torn? Doc was in a panic until he remembered something: there were pieces of clothing, similar to the shirt, on that beast-man. The coach looked back to the alley, the creature still hasn't emerged. Doc was desperate for answers, so with a deep breath, he cautiously headed toward the dead end. Down it, everything ranging to stray trash and garbage cans were thrown all over the place; a dumpster was caved in on its side by some powerful force. The trainer knew exactly who, or what had caused that, and it made him hesitate. His heart was beating fast, but he needed to find his son. He kept walking slowly; each sound echoed softly on the concrete, his breathing was raspy. When he was about to reach the end, he noticed a figure lying on the ground. It was not the beast the coach saw before. The person was smaller than him by a considerable amount. His hair was much shorter and was spiked up at the front, and he was naturally muscular for a boy his age. There were slashes and bruises all over him, and he even had a stab wound in his arm. His breathing was fast and heavy, and what remained of his shirt clung on his body. Doc couldn't believe his eyes. It was Mac, horribly beaten up, but alive.

"Mac!" Doc shouted and rushed towards him without any hesitation. He crouched down and lifted the boy's head and torso up, checking to see if the damage was serious or not. Mac stirred a bit from the disturbance and half opened his eyes. Even in the poor lighting Doc can tell that the lad's eyes were dilated; it took quite a bit for them to focus. The young man tried to speak, but Doc shushed him quietly.

"You're gonna be okay son, I'm gonna get you some help." he said softly, trying to stay calm. Mac stared at him almost blankly; he couldn't feel anything but his heart pounding hard, like it was going to burst any second. His memory was heavily hazy, along with his vision.

"It hurts." he managed to utter. Doc only nodded and picked the boy up from off the ground. He was going to run him to the hospital, but thought about something important he overlooked. Where was that hulking man from earlier? The trainer glanced around, thinking that he was hiding in the shadows. No one was there; it was only the two of them. Doc looked up to see if he climbed away with a fire escape or something. There were none, and the walls were too high and sleek for free climbing. What was happening? Doc couldn't wrap his head around the situation, until one conclusion came. Was Mac..? No, that can't be. It's impossible, but the evidence point to it being so. The torn shirt, the black hair, it all connected. The coach was taken aback by all of it, but it doesn't not matter right now to him. His first priority was to get Mac to a hospital and hope for the best. He'll think about everything else in due time.

...It took Mac a bit to realize where he was. The room was relatively basic: plain walls, a dresser full of knickknacks, and clothes were scattered on the floor. Next to the bed he was sleeping in had a night stand with a book and a lamp resting on it. He was in his room, it felt surreal to him. The boy started to sit up, but all the pain rushed back at once, causing him to groan and lay back down. Everything, especially his chest and head throbbed. He couldn't remember what happened, except for the thugs that surrounded him and Doc. Mac froze in fear; he needed to find Doc. Persisting through the agony, the young man got up and ran downstairs, hoping that his coach was alright. When he got to the bottom, he found Doc sitting in the kitchen, reading the newspaper calmly and taking a sip of coffee.

"Good morning son." he said to Mac, lifting his eyes from the article he was reading. The lad was baffled by how calm everything seemed, weren't they jumped last night?

"Hey… uh, how long was I sleeping for?" he asked.

"Just a couple more hours than usual." Doc answered lightly. He pulled out a chair for the young man and politely prompted him to sit down. Mac took a seat without hesitation, since he felt his legs getting weak and his head was spinning. As if nothing was wrong, Doc began to pull out ingredients for pancakes that he usually made. The boy knew something was up, but no matter how hard he tried to remember everything, he drew nothing but blanks. All he remembered was trying to help Doc, getting beaten up, and then black. Did he lose consciousness? The work and stress of it all made him moan in pain and rest his head on the table.

"Are you alright Mac baby?" his coach asked while mixing batter with a whisk.

"It hurts." the lad replied in a dull manner. Those words sent a shiver down Doc's spine, but he didn't show it. He didn't want to for Mac's sake.

"In a bit I'll give ya pain medicine the doctor prescribed." he said. The boy only responded with a small groan, letting the cool table comfort him somewhat. Minutes went by, and eventually Doc set a plate of pancakes for Mac, along with a pill to ease the pain. They both ate in silence; Mac was struggling a bit to even hold a fork. It broke Doc's heart to see him in this state, but what can he say, or even do?

"Doc," the young man started, breaking him from his chain of thought, "what happened last night? ...Weren't we getting robbed?" The coach stayed silent for a bit, pondering for an answer.

"It's in the past, both of us are safe now." he answered. The response made Mac purposely drop his fork onto the plate, startling his trainer a bit. He was not satisfied. Something was wrong, he had that feeling.

"Please, tell me the truth. This is not okay." the lad said, holding his hand up. It was shaking badly, and it was obvious that he was struggling to keep it up in the air. Doc was startled, he can't tell him what happened, not yet. But, he cannot bear to see the lad put himself through pain to get the truth out of him. He had to make up something, anything to keep him content until the time is right. With a deep sigh, the coach came up with an answer. What could be better than a half truth? In a sense, it isn't as harmful as making a complete lie.

"You fought them, all of them. You were going berserk on them until they ran off. The leader got your arm with his knife, but you kept going. You managed to calm down and passed out. I took you to the hospital for your wounds... You really scared me back there, but I'm grateful that you're alive." he said. Mac thought over what Doc said many times, trying to think if something wasn't right. To him, it made sense, the blows to the head could've messed with his memory and that was the end of it. The air was silent for a few moments.

"Alright, thank you Doc. Sorry for getting a bit upset there." the lad said finally, feeling a bit embarrassed from his actions.

"Don't worry about it son, for now just rest and eat." Doc replied with a smile, putting Mac at ease. The trainer however wasn't. He already noticed the sudden aggression within the boy. He'll have to take one thing at a time.

...Several weeks passed after the incident. Rumors emerged of a mysterious creature lurking in the Bronx, and all the evidence it left was one witness account, a smashed dumpster and torn clothing in an alleyway. No one know where it came from or where it went, or if it was even a hoax or not, but it became a hot topic in the city. With gossip like that, everyone was bound to hear it. Mac was no exception to this, in fact, he was curious of the sighting. When the news got to Doc however, his heart froze in fright. He would deliberately avoid the scene by changing the running route to be far from it. This of course agitated Mac, but he will not take any chances. The trainer was still shaken up by what he had saw, especially those eyes. If it wasn't for lady luck, he could've gotten the worst end of the fury possibly, and from someone he cared so much. It ached his heart, he once even doubted Mac's compassion for him. It was a sad conundrum overall for him to cope with.

"Come on Doc, we should check it out." Mac said, pestering the coach to go to the site.

"Son, you know gossip leads to nothing but trouble, and besides, it's probably some big prank." he replied, making the young man huff a bit from annoyance.

"Then, what if I go by myself?" he asked.

"Absolutely not."Doc replied hastily.

"Why not!? I go alone in the city all the time! Those guys got arrested too!" the boy exclaimed, getting aggressive with his coach. He felt like Doc was treating him like a little kid all over again.

"That doesn't mean the city is one hundred percent safe. End of discussion." the coach replied sternly, despite getting nervous. He's never seen the lad get angry this fast before; his heart was sinking in fear. Mac looked down a bit before glaring at Doc.

"I can't believe you're treating me like a child!" he blurted out before storming off. Before Doc could react, he was gone. The coach immediately ran to the warehouse to go grab the bike.

Meanwhile, Mac was quickly walking down alleyways, angered by the whole argument. He wasn't really thinking about what his trainer had said, rather feeling infuriated from being restricted. When he was walking, the young man noticed an empty can on the ground, and began to kick it. One time after another the repetition made Mac feel less angered over time, eventually calming himself down. While staying in the rhythm, he thought carefully about what Doc had said. The lad realized he was just getting angry for no reason; in fact, he began to feel guilty over his actions. His coach was justified, they only escaped serious injury and risked being killed a bit ago, and the boy figured that he was getting involved with something that was none of his business in a long run. It made Mac also realize that his temper is getting out of hand, fearing that the incident messed with more than his memory. Before he could ponder over it, the can bounced onto a side of a dumpster, creating a bang sound. The young man looked around, curious about where he was exactly, since he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. Glancing down a crossroad in the alley, he noticed something strange. Down a straight path there was a dumpster, it looked caved in. The sight of it made a click in Mac's mind. He was at the site where the beast man was by complete chance. Along with that thought, he suspected Doc would be here soon to come look for him. The lad walked to the bashed metal to get a better look at it, passing the crossroad with an open dumpster nearby.

"Whoa." he gasped when he saw the full condition of the thing. The bin looked like if someone bent tinfoil over a ball. Whatever caused it made the task seem effortless, and judging by the trash littered all over the place, it probably was. Mac stared at it for a long time, feeling uneasy. He felt that he knew what happened here somehow. When he focused long enough, he saw something flash in his mind: a huge hand slamming into the dumpster, and then blank. What was that about? Unnerved, the boy walked away, heading back to the crossroads and slightly regretting his decision. About to walk to the city, something seemed to sparkled in the undamaged dumpster that the lad hit with the can. It caught Mac's eye, and he decided to check it out. Almost having to be on his tiptoes, he saw an almost shattered mirror, the sunlight managed to be reflected by it. Without warning, Mac recalled seeing a face; the hair was a black and spiky mess, blood ran down its nose and stained the teeth that were revealed. The face looked like a ravaged beast, and the eyes… the eyes had the look of death in them, even in the dark. Mac yelped in terror and stumbled back, tripping and falling onto the ground. He was breathing heavy, his whole body was shaking, and he couldn't believe what he just saw. Why did his mind remember such a thing? No, that thing couldn't be real, he thought he was hallucinating. The more the boy thought about it however, the more vivid and real the creature looked. Mac didn't notice the person behind him.

"Mac!" they called. The young man turned around and saw Doc, on his bike, staring at him with a concerned look. The trainer got off and helped the lad up to his feet.

"Why did you run off like that? You had me worried sick!" Doc cried. Mac only looked at him with a shocked expression, still thinking about the image he saw. After a few seconds, he realized who he was staring at.

"Doc!" he started, throwing Doc off guard, "The monster, it's probably real."

"Son-" Doc started, his heart started to beat fast.

"I think I saw it somehow. I saw it smash the dumpster over there." Mac interrupted, pointing down the alley he came from. The coach was stunned by what he was saying… did he…?

"I only got a glance of it there, but here, I saw its face. In the mirror, I saw that thing behind..." he stopped. The young man thought about the memory again, making sure he saw everything correctly. What stopped him in his tracks was not the things that were there, it was the factor that wasn't. His blood froze at the realization. He didn't see his own reflection in the mirror along with the beast.


	5. Chapter 5

"Oh god." Mac whispered. The discovery threw the young man's mind in a loop, questioning his reality. He knew for sure that the monster was real, but he wasn't there. Or was he? Could it have been a dream? That's impossible, he was never able to remember his any of them at all, no matter how terrifying they were; he knew this since his childhood up to now. A new thought came to mind: what if it happened when he and Doc got jumped by that gang? The lad only knew the gist of what happened, but his coach saw everything. He had to, he was right there when it happened!

"Doc." Mac began. The trainer gulped in anticipation and fear. He waited for the young man to continue.

"What happened when those guys attacked us, Was that monster there?" the boy asked, his expression was grim. Doc only looked at him, drawing blanks on what to say.

"Please, tell me." Mac requested, sounding desperate. The only response was a chilling silence. He got his answer.

"It was… god dammit! Why didn't you tell me!?" the lad shouted suddenly out of terror. His coach was stunned, not saying a word. This prompted Mac to continue.

"You could've gotten killed by that thing! You should've ran and left me behind! I was unconscious!" he shouted, clearly upset that Doc was in that much danger. The lad felt that he owed everything to that man. Even if it was his own life, so be it. He waited for his coach to respond, only to get nothing.

"Why didn't you run!?" Mac screamed, tears threatened to fall down his face. Doc was in a state of sorrow. He knew what had to be done, no matter how much it might hurt the kid.

"Mac," the trainer started, the young man stared at him intently, "I did try to run from him, but he scared himself by looking at the mirror and ran to that dead end." Doc made the mirror connection thanks to Mac, but the hardest part had yet to come.

"I tried to look for you when he ran off, but you weren't where you were beaten down." he continued. The lad looked at him, puzzled by what he had said.

"I decided to follow where he ran off to. I needed answers of where you were, but when I got there…" Doc paused. He was trying to muster his courage to say it.

"What happened when you got there?" Mac asked, scared of the possibilities of his trainer getting attacked by the beast. Doc took a deep breath, ready to tell the truth.

"He was gone, but, you were there, unconscious and injured." he said. Mac didn't understand what his trainer said.

"Did it carry me there?" he asked. His coach shook his head solemnly, which sprung fear in the boy's heart.

"There was no way he can escape Mac. With that, he had torn clothing on him… and when I ran over to you, the same pieces were on your body. Doc stated painfully. The young man's eyes grew wide; he couldn't fathom what he had listened to. How could that be possible? It didn't make sense, unless…

"No..." Mac muttered. Doc looked at him somberly, the truth finally hit him. The lad looked at his coach in terrified desperation.

"Doc, please tell me that I'm... It has to be a sick joke…" he stopped when he saw how grave the trainer looked. He began to breathe heavily, realizing the gravity of the situation; it explained why he was able to see the thing smash the dumpster, and why he didn't see his reflection with it... He was the monster. He saw his own malice through the mirror, the willingness to kill. The boy stared at Doc, horrified, and that's when he saw it. A memory, a fast one. He was towering over his coach; the poor man was paralyzed in terror and despair. Mac knew he glared at Doc with those same, enraged eyes, as that beast. Tears began to fall down the lad's face, and he started to back away from his coach. Doc knew what he was going to do.

"Mac…" the trainer said softly, desperately hoping the young man would listen. He tried to reach out towards him, but Mac stepped back hastily, almost hyperventilating now.

"Stay away from me." he said shakily. Doc was deeply worried, he took a step forward.

"Mac, please…" he started, trying to calm the boy down.

"I said stay away!" Mac shouted, smacking the coach's hand away from him. He bolted out to the city, wanting to get away from there, away from everything. The boy was gone before Doc even had a chance to hop on the bike and go after him.

...The young man ran the hardest he had ever done before. All painful emotions swamped him, he couldn't tolerate even a second of it. Mac kept running until a familiar building was in his sight. It was the warehouse that he and Doc train in almost every day. The lad went inside and slammed the door shut, forgetting to lock it. He wandered around the giant room aimlessly, thinking about the abomination that he saw himself as. His mind drifted to the game of what if: what if he got caught, if he changed right in front of a crowd, all other possibilities. It terrified him; his life would be over if any of those happen. Mac felt lost on what to do, he didn't even know how this form even came to existence within him. Was it genetics, or some freak accident? He was bewildered. Then he remembered that look his coach gave him and his own. Mac knew, deep down, that he was going to attack Doc, if it wasn't for the mirror. This angered the boy. After all his trainer has done for him, all the hard times that he went through, the lad was going to harm him, or worse. Mac began to punch the wall violently, letting his fury build up. He hated his actions, he hated this whole problem… he hated himself most of all. The young man was about to stop his assault upon coming to that realization… but it was too late. He felt something break inside him, this time he was fully aware. Pain surged through his body as his clothes tightened around him, almost constricting his body. His heart was pounding in a fast, unnatural rhythm; Mac felt his terror mixed within rage. The lad desperately tried to somehow repress the transformation, but everything clouded his mind. All he remembered was his own demonic roar before everything went to black.

"Where could that boy gone off to?" Doc asked frantically between breaths. He was pedaling hard to find Mac as quick as possible, hoping that the lad was alright. The trainer zipped around the city to all the spots that Mac would likely be at, but he wasn't in any of them. He was almost desperate enough to call the police until he heard a loud bang in the distance. Doc's heart skipped a beat from hearing the noise. He knew where he was, and possibly where that noise came from. In a few moments he arrived to where he thought was the right location. As if on cue, another smash was heard; it was in the warehouse near the apartments. Doc became nervous of what was happening in there, he feared the worst. The coach hopped off the bike and cautiously approached the door and turned the knob. To his surprise, it was unlocked. With a deep breath, he went inside and quietly shut the door behind him. The room was silent, yet there was destruction everywhere. There were torn sandbags flung all over the place, the sand was littering the floor. The makeshift boxing ring had a few ropes ripped cleanly off it, and the benches were either flipped over or shattered. Doc began to walk slowly, examining the damage that was presented to him. He knew that Mac wouldn't be able to destroy anything to this caliber so quickly. Suddenly, the trainer heard a noise. It sounded like a heavy thump. It was rhythmic, and it kept getting louder and closer. Doc turned around and saw the source of the sound, which confirmed his fears. The tattered clothing, the wild hair, the frightening scowl, all was present. Mac turned into the beast man, staring down his coach like a predator. The trainer took a step back, horrified of encountering him once more. The creature took a step forward, exposing himself to the light fixture above both of them. Doc was about to run, but saw something that made him choose not to. Besides this hulking man being Mac, he also noticed something drastically different. He didn't have the expression of complete malice, rather, he seemed afraid of sorts. The coach was shocked to see this, wondering if he could get through to him. He gulped, mentally preparing himself.

"Mac?" he asked timidly. The beast hesitated his step for a second, but then continued, making Doc walk backwards.

"Mac, it's me." the trainer said. Before he knew it, his back hit the wall, he was cornered again. The monster kept approaching him, now quietly growling.

"Mac baby please snap out of it, this isn't you!" Doc cried, growing desperate. The beast stopped, staring at the coach. Doc was shocked to see a true response; he can't let this chance go. He had an idea.

"Look at me Mac, I'm not going to hurt you, you're okay here." he said softly, trying to comfort the hulking man. The creature stared at him, until something clicked in his mind. He began to panic, and ran to a random side room within the warehouse. Doc went after him, but found the door shut surprisingly. The beast, hearing the trainer coming, knocked a filing cabinet over to block the door, making it impossible to open from the other side. Doc was baffled by the sudden change of behavior. Was it the creature that ran, or was it Mac who became aware of himself? The trainer tried to open the door, but the cabinet was too heavy to push with just the door.

"Mac it's okay, please come out of there." he said loudly, trying to soothe him. The beast ignored him, looking around to find anywhere to escape, but there was none. He kept circling around the room, desperate to get away, wanting to hide. Doc can hear the loud footsteps, feeling terrible how he was reacting to the whole situation. The coach wondered what he could do to calm him down, but nothing came to thought. Oddly though, this somewhat reminded him of the time he met Mac when he was younger. He never knew why he recalled such a thing, but he was glad he did. It gave him the idea he needed.

"Hey son, isn't it funny how we met in here, except I was able to get through the door." he said lightly, managing to give a small laugh. The footsteps stopped, he caught the beast's attention.

"Yeah, I still remembered that energy you had, made an old dog fighter like me impressed." Doc continued. The creature was listening to every word the trainer was saying. His breath and heart began to slow down. He faintly remembered that event.

"Listen, my love will never change because of this. I still care about you, and I can prove that." Doc said softly, he felt like he was going to cry from saying those words. He meant it. There was silence, it felt like an eternity. The coach was listening for some sort of reaction.

"Hold on." a voice replied weakly. Doc was stunned. That was Mac's voice. He changed back to normal. Before the trainer was able to say anything, he heard a metallic dragging noise. The boy, though almost fatigued, pulled the cabinet back enough for the door to open. Doc opened the door slowly, and saw Mac sitting against the wall, panting. The pants he wore were much too big and tattered for him now. The coach sat down next to him, not saying a word. It wasn't necessary. The young man just wanted a comforting presence at the moment. They sat there for many minutes; the sound of cars from outside could be faintly heard. Mac's breathing had slowed down to its normal rhythm, though he still felt pain in his body.

"Dad." he mumbled. The trainer looked at the boy, waiting patiently for him to continue. He didn't know if it was his nickname that the lad had said or not, but he decided not to make him repeat himself.

"Thank you." Mac said, almost choking on his own words. He was trying to keep himself from crying, he didn't want to deal with it after what had occurred. Doc only nodded in response, he was at a lost on what to say. The coach got up and helped Mac get up on his feet, the boy's legs were shaky, but he was able to walk on his own.

"Mac," Doc began, which prompted the young man to listen, "We'll get through this together, just like we always do. Don't beat yourself up. You'll be alright." The trainer didn't know what could be best to say, but he wanted to cheer the kid up somehow. Mac nodded, wiping away tears that were about to fall. He shivered a bit from the cold that always crept in the warehouse. Doc, without hesitation, took off his red jacket, exposing a leopard patterned one underneath. He placed the coat over the lad's shoulder, and when Mac looked at him, he chuckled a bit.

"You had that thing on under your jacket?" the young man asked, grinning a bit. He always found the thing to be kind of ugly, but he would never say that to Doc. He loved that thing a lot.

"Why wouldn't I? I look good in it." the trainer replied, happy that Mac was at least smiling. He believed that the kid was going to be okay, though the process will take time and effort. The two left towards their apartment; they already decided to get some rest and figure out a plan tomorrow, without even saying a word.


	6. Chapter 6

Figures with medical masks surrounded Mac, examining his eyes with blinding lights or drawing blood from his arm. The lad couldn't move nor speak, but he was afraid and physically felt nothing but paralysis throughout his body. He had no idea what was going on and who these people were, but something did not feel right. The doctors spoke quietly, their words seemed either too soft or merely jumbled that the young man couldn't figure out what they were saying. Softly, he heard someone, or something, breathe heavily. One of the people that surrounded Mac took out a needle and injected some substance in his arm. It hurt like hell, unbearable even. The lad yelled and managed to jerk his body, which made the doctors hastily try to restrain him. Mac was struggling desperately, he wanted to get out, away from the agony he felt. He forcefully pushed back two of the figures to make an opening. He thought he was able to make an escape, until he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his neck; his body became limp once more. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw an empty syringe that a nurse was holding. The young man's vision began to blur, the breathing from before became louder. The staff left hastily, their voices sounded fearful. Mac was completely numb, and as he was about to pass out a figure loomed over him. The boy's heart was pounding rapidly when he recognized what it was, but before he can do anything, the creature lunged its hand towards him.

The lad woke up, gasping loudly from the shock and he shot himself up to a sitting position. The pain in his neck returned, which scared him horribly. This time he remembered what he saw, it was all so vivid. Why of all times did he remember a dream? He quickly thought about the events, they seemed so real, and the sensations seemed to be proof of that. Mac was shaking, he couldn't sleep after that, instead he just laid back down on his bed and waited for the sun to rise. He wanted to distract himself from the horror he felt in that nightmare. Usually, watching the sunrise helped with boredom when he woke up early, but this time he needed the comfort of it to soothe his fear. When the brightness crept in the sky, Mac felt a bit more at ease, and began to head downstairs.

"Can't I catch a break?" he muttered to himself silently as he headed to the kitchen. He started to make some coffee for Doc when he decides to wake up; as for the boy himself, he began boiling a kettle of water for tea. Coffee was a rarity for him to drink. While waiting, he thought about what had happened in the past several weeks, and how surreal it felt in a sense. How often does someone with memory and anger issues turn into a beastly version of themselves? It all sounded like a warped fairy tale. Eventually, he heard the kettle almost screeching, and he took it off the stove. He poured the hot water into a mug with a tea bag resting inside and waited for the water to change color. While waiting, tired footsteps sounded from upstairs, and got louder as they descended downwards. Doc was rubbing the weariness from his eyes, but almost jumped when he saw Mac sitting at the table looking at him.

"Hey." Mac said before taking a sip of tea.

"Morning son, did you sleep well?" Doc replied, walking over to get himself some coffee. Both of them felt kind of uneasy, since they'll have to eventually address the elephant in the room. The boy was pondering nervously about his coach's question along with another thought.

"Not really. I'll explain why." the young man stated, feeling it's better to talk about the nightmare he had than bottling it up. It might be a shock to the trainer however. They sat in silence for a bit, drinking their beverages and listening to the sound of the clock on the wall tick. They never really acknowledged it before; they spoke over it all the time.

"I had a dream last night where I was in a medical room," Mac began, Doc was listening intently, "They were examining me, I couldn't hear what they said." He paused, wondering how to make the next part not sound alarming to his coach.

"One of them, gave me a shot of something, and I started to freak out. I almost was about to fight and run away, until I felt pain in my neck. Before I knew it, I wasn't able to move, and they all ran off in a hurry. Before I saw black, I saw a shadow figure staring at me, and it reached for my throat. It scared the hell outta me." the young man said. Doc, who was processing every word the lad was saying, thought about it, then his mind froze.

"You actually remembered a dream?" the trainer asked in surprise. The lad nodded.

"I think the scarier part is that I felt pain when I woke up." he said. The trainer was still concerned about how Mac was able to remember something that he generally forgot. Is such a thing even possible? Possibly, but why now of all times? It seemed way too coincidental that the boy suddenly remember his dreams just after the discovery of turning into a giant. There was silence as Doc thought over everything, but he couldn't come up with any response to it. Mac, wanting to change the subject, decided to ask him something important that he thought about earlier. He was going to do it himself, but he felt it would be better to bring his coach along. He needed to go back.

"Um, Doc," he began, which caught the trainer's attention, "I was thinking, uhhh, that we should go to the orphanage together."

"How come?" Doc asked. He at least wanted to hear the boy's reason before making a decision. Mac thought over the question, struggling to come up with a convincing answer, or anything for that matter. He knew why he wanted to go, but he couldn't put it in words that won't make it sound foolish. It was starting to irritate him a bit.

"Never mind, I was stupid for bringing it up." Mac finally replied, giving up on trying to provide a reason. Doc was saddened a bit from what the young man said, he saw how hard he was struggling.

"It's alright to be honest with me son, you know I won't laugh." he said, somewhat trying to encourage the lad to tell him. Mac took a deep breath, feeling a bit better thanks to the coach.

"Well, I feel that something could be there, like a record of me that's hidden. Sounds stupid huh?" the boy responded shyly.

"No, but it sounds unlikely." Doc said bluntly. The tone discouraged Mac. "But you never know 'til you go and find out."

"Huh?" the lad uttered out of confusion.

"It wouldn't hurt to go and see if there are records. I'm itching for some answers myself." the trainer said, smiling. Mac's eyes widened a bit from the response before smiling a bit himself, comforted by the fact that Doc was always on his side.

"But remember, trespassing is bad, only this time alright?" the coach asked, sounding like a generic parent. Mac nodded, more focused on going instead of heeding Doc's words.

…The orphanage looked more dreary the second time Mac saw it. The weeds had overtaken an even bigger portion of the land surrounding the building, along with more decay being present. Doc felt uncomfortable by the condition, but truth be told, he was nervous about breaking in a place. He was getting too old for that kind of thing, he would admit that. The boy went up to the door and turned the knob and was glad that it was unlocked. At least no one new came around. The two quietly walked inside, the trainer looked around the dust filled foyer and noticed the large rock and shattered glass.

"Now who would break this place more? Don't they know some decency?" he asked aloud, a bit annoyed by the sight. Mac laughed sheepishly, already making himself look suspicious.

"Yeah, about that…" his voice trailed off, alarming Doc.

"...We'll talk about it later, but let's focus on what we're here for." the coach said. He let it slide, just this once. Mac led the coach to where he had left off, which was the entrance to the kitchen. Doc was about to open the door before the young man stopped him hastily.

"You better cover your nose, it's horrid." he warned the trainer, covering his nose and mouth with his hoodie. Doc did as he was told before Mac slowly opened the door. Even with their faces covered, they were able to catch a whiff of the disgusting odor that was in the room. Doc gagged slightly from it, while Mac's face contorted a bit. The two looked around, avoiding the rotten mush that was on the counters and now on the floor. Near some old, busted cupboards was a door that was highly dusty. The coach walked up and opened it slowly, revealing the other side to be a closet filled with old cleaning supplies. He found it sort of ironic, or coincidental, he couldn't tell the difference. Mac went to the other side of the kitchen to another door, which led to a hallway that was plagued with water damage and mold. The boy motioned Doc to follow and began to slowly walk down the hall.

"Be careful, this floor looks like it's gonna give way." the trainer warned, hearing the creak and groans of the wood under their feet.

"I think we'll be okay, you always said I'm lighter than a ca-" Mac started before the floor shattered, causing him to shout and tumble to a room below. Doc flinched back from the suddenness before rushing to the hole. He saw nothing but blackness, but he could hear the lad coughing and moaning a bit.

"Son! Are you alright!?" the coach shouted, fearing a bad injury.

"I'm fine, just choking on dust." Mac replied before managing to get up.

"I'll come find ya in a bit, just stay put." Doc said before he walked around the hole and quickly rushed down the hall. The young man brushed the dust off his clothes and looked around, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness. The area was drastically different from the rest of the building. The walls had small bins with papers in them and the floor was all tile; a huge contrast to the wood above. The doors were metallic, which struck as unsettling to the boy. He looked ahead and behind to see a door and a stairway. Mac walked over to the stairs and saw the door at the top chained and sealed with a metal lock. What were these people trying to keep out, or keep in?

Meanwhile, Doc headed down to the end of the hall and came to a door. The wood was weak and could be pulled right off with enough strength. He turned the knob, but it was locked. The trainer was determined, so he bashed against the door in hopes that it would break. The noise however, made Mac, who was on the other side, jump in fear.

"Doc?" he called nervously. The coach stopped his assault, trying to hear the voice again.

"Mac baby is that you?" he responded. Mac let out a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, this door is locked, I'm gonna find a key." the boy said before running off. The trainer didn't have much of a choice. The lad carefully walked down the hall, looking at the papers that were in the dusty bins while his footsteps echoed eerily on the tile. It was difficult to read in the dark, but the words that were used on the pages themselves were beyond Mac's vocabulary. As he kept walking, the young man noticed side rooms, a couple open ones had examining tables and medical beds. He quickly went inside to find a key of sorts, quickly skimming each room, but none could be found. Eventually, he made to the end of the corridor, and in front of him was a closed door with another lock on it. The discovery made a pit in Mac's stomach. There wasn't any clear way to get out of the place. The boy rushed back to the stairway.

"Doc?" he called.

"What's wrong son?" the trainer responded, hearing the worry in the kid's voice.

"I can't find a key, I'm stuck." Mac said hastily. The words struck fear a bit in Doc.

"Stand back Mac, I'm gonna bash the door down." the coach replied, readying himself.

"Ya can't do that, the door is metal! It's locked too!" the lad shouted, thinking Doc went crazy a bit. The man stopped, confused by what he said.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Listen." Mac said, and bashed the door loudly with his fist. There was a metallic bang that echoed on both ends. Doc, still bewildered by the scenario, started to rip the loose wood on the door. Sure enough, the metal surface was eventually exposed and the trainer received a couple splinters in the process. It truly shocked him that such a thing even existed, but he was more frightened that Mac was trapped. He needs to find a way to get the boy out.

"Hang on Mac, I'm going to find a key. Before I do I'm gonna throw down my flashlight for you." Doc said before he ran off. Eventually, Mac heard heavy footsteps above him, which made the boy run over and prepare himself to catch the falling object. He fumbled a bit, but caught the flashlight and immediately turned it on. The footsteps from Doc soon faded away, leaving Mac alone. The lad looked around with much clarity, the papers he saw before were still much difficult to read in some places due to the vocabulary. He revisited the rooms, now thoroughly searching for a key or anything he can try lockpicking with, despite not knowing how. Upon searching each room, he developed an unsettling feeling of familiarity.

One room he went in had shattered needles on the floor and counters, and an gigantic examination table in the center of the room. The young man looked on the table and the counters, feeling the pit in his stomach grow bigger. He looked at the ceiling and saw the dead fluorescent lights. Disturbed, he turned around and headed to the door until he heard a ear piercing scream right behind him. It sounded like a child. He quickly turned around, his heart pounding violently… but found nothing. A sense of terror almost engulfed Mac. It was like last time with the woman in the playroom, but this time he cannot run away. Before he backed away he noticed something that sparkled a bit from the light of his flashlight under the table. Nervously, the boy grabbed the item and looked at it. It was a small key, he felt a wave of relief wash over him. Not hesitating, Mac ran to the stairway, putting the key into the lock and turning it. ...But there was no click. Panicking, he tried to turn it the other way forcefully, his hands almost shaking badly. There was no luck, the lock was still fixed. Frustrated, Mac slammed the lock onto the door, making a loud clang. The key was useless, or so he thought. There was one more lock he can try, and it was at the opposite end of the hallway.

...Doc searched every room there is in the whole building. Not one trace of a key can be found. He was now back in the main foyer, pacing around, trying to think of anything that could help Mac get out of the underground hallway. He thought about calling the police, but both of them could get in trouble for trespassing and vandalism and the boy would get the worst of it. That would be a last possible resort. The trainer also didn't want the lad to be left alone for who knows how long in a building that seemed to be on the verge of collapse. Doc felt like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place, neither solution seemed ideal. Annoyed a bit, he leaned against a wall with a loud thud, only to suddenly fall backwards and slam onto the floor. He mumbled some curses from the pain before he sat up and looked around. The wall collapsed from the force he made, revealing a stairway. The coach was shocked from the discovery, but now he had a possible way of getting Mac out of this labyrinth of an orphanage. He stood up, and using the wall as a guide, slowly descended down to the dark below.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys! Sorry this chapter took a long time to complete due to me being busy and wanting to make sure everything is wrapped up nicely. This is the final chapter and I hope you all liked the story! Enjoy.**

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Mac hesitated upon approaching the locked metal door. He had no idea what could be on the other side, nor even why it was locked in the first place. The room was left with so much mystery that old folk tales cannot compare at all. He timidly grabbed the cold lock with his hand and inserted the key. He turned it, and a small click from the lock opening was heard. The lad removed the lock, now facing the unlocked door that seemed to tower over him. He felt like he shouldn't enter the room beyond, yet he doesn't know why. He heard a loud bang somewhere in the walls, and they were somewhat close. Mac panicked and went into the room and closed the door instinctively. In the room, papers were littered all over the place, only counters and filing cabinets can be found. Oddly, some of the documents were burned as well. One can only suspect either a freak fire or a person trying to erase evidence of sorts. The young man decided on the second thought. He rummaged through the cabinets and looked at the folders inside. The titles of them made a knot in the boy's stomach. The names were Experiment 37, Experiment 38, and so on in the numerical format. Mac grabbed a random one and read what he could. He was horrified. The subject wasn't the standard mouse or some amoeba. It was a child, going through supposed complex surgeries and injections of who knows what. The lad looked at each folder, each one had a child subject and some form of procedure similar to the last.

"What kind of…" he only managed to choke out before he continued reading. From each document Mac had seen, all the tests were a failure. He glanced over each one in all the drawers and they had the same result. Despite the shock, the lad was morbidly curious of why these experiments even existed at all. He was about to place the folder back until his hand slipped and all the papers inside scattered all over the place. Mac automatically began picking up the mess until he noticed something poking out from the filing cabinet. It looked yellowish and somewhat burned. The young man grabbed the object and pulled it out, revealing to be another folder, a damaged one at that. Upon examining it, Mac noticed the crude notes on the back of it, indicating the next set of procedures and results that weren't officially documented. When he turned it over, his nervousness grew. The words "Destroy immediately" were written poorly on the front. Mac was disturbed by what can possibly be in this folder, what they did to a child. With a deep breath, he opened it and began to read the contents.

...Doc took each step as carefully as he could in the darkness. His eyes haven't fully adjusted yet, and the lack of any rails only made the descent more difficult. Halfway down, he missed a step and almost fell, but he slammed into the wall to balance himself. The trainer's heart skipped a beat when he heard something slam soon after; he didn't know what it was. He managed to calm himself down, assuming it was Mac accidentally knocking something over. Nothing more than a coincidence. Eventually, Doc made it to the bottom and he let his eyes adapt to the dark. There was nothing in the area with him, besides a sliding door, the same one that he knocked over by chance at the main foyer. The coach slowly opened it, the wood scraped against the floor. On the other side was a room that connected to a long hallway, papers and broken objects were scattered everywhere. Doc proceeded to the hall, his footsteps echoed eerily on the tile. He noticed that everything was covered in dust, besides some fingerprints in random spots. Next to him was a bin on the wall containing some documents, some hand prints wiped the debris off it. He picked the papers up and began to read them, struggling to comprehend the terminology that was used and the poor lighting. Knowing that it was pointless, he placed them back and looked around the place more. One end of the hallway had stairs that led to a metal door, but it was sealed by a metal lock.

"That must be the exit?" Doc questioned silently. He then looked to the other end, noticing all the other rooms that lined up perfectly across from each other, all sides had the same number of them. What caught the trainer's eye however was the door at the very end, almost identical to the locked one. The only exception was that it does not have a lock; it was on the floor. Doc proceeded to the room at the other end; glancing at the other rooms he passed by. He was uncomfortable seeing broken needles and medical tables in most of them. Before the coach knew it, he was face to face with the metallic door. He realized that Mac was nowhere in sight, so he must be in this room. The boy couldn't have gone anywhere else.

...The air almost suffocated Mac as he carefully read each word he could on the paper. He was stunned that this experiment was claimed as a success. From what the lad read, these insane scientists were trying to achieve one goal: genetically modify a living child to absolute perfection. The details went even further by having the child capable of being a super soldier of sorts if necessary. And now they have a compatible subject for the treatments. Mac was horrified, reading this horror novel of a report.

"How can they do such a thing?" the boy thought, wondering how a group tried to deny life itself to forcibly make a child perfect in their eyes, in society's eyes. He continued reading, uneasy about what he was about to learn next. As he flipped the pages, Mac figured out that the child would be going through every procedure well, they even managed to change their eye color to a unique green that could be mistaken as blue that was later on. However, the child was rebellious. The kid went as far as telling people what they did to them. Luckily for the scientists, no one believed him. As a safety measure, the doctors were ordered to inject him with serum that supposedly erases memories based on dosage. At the very least it would cause them to be repressed. Mac was disgusted by what he read. He couldn't even fathom how cruel these people were to this kid and how unemotional they acted. The lad began to shake a bit from the anger that grew. Mac immediately took a deep breath to calm himself down. He did not want to cause the place to collapse. The young man continued reading; all the reports were in a routine pattern, except for one. His heart skipped a bit from what he read. Mac was able to sum it up as this:

"The subject's initial reaction to the serum was highly negative, resulting in a violent outburst. Two doctors were thrown aside by the subject while it was being subdued. A young child should not have this immense amount of strength, therefore the incident will be discussed and documented when the next step is finalized."

The report sounded far too familiar to the boy. He realized that this event was much like his dream, but in their perspective. Could this be it, the information he was looking for? Mac continued reading, and the final report made his blood freeze. He was able to sum up the report in only a few sentences:

"Due to the police investigation and rising suspicion, we will relocate the subject to a random area in the city, in hopes that it won't survive the conditions. The group cannot afford to be apprehended by the law. As for the experiment, it was concluded as an absolute failure. Relocation will commence soon, along with a final serum injection, which will be triple, the normal dosage. We hope that the subject will not remember anything, if it lives that is."

Mac stared at the report, as if it hit him with a powerful blow. He knew that this report was about him, the pieces lined up. This was how he became a monster years later. This experiment and all the treatments made him something that they wouldn't be able to comprehend, despite inadvertently making it. To make things worse, they left him in some sort of artificial amnesia. There's a chance that the lad will remember everything, and this threw him into a state of mixed emotions. He felt numb trying to cope with the situation. He flipped back to the front of the document, reading the name of the child, of him. The name he forgotten. Sick of seeing the folder, Mac placed it on the counter and walked to the opposite corner. He slowly slid down the wall and sat on the floor, his knees touching his chin. The boy stared down, his mind numbed completely, trying to manage everything that had happened these past weeks to now. He felt his mind fading to black, but something barely caught his attention. He heard a small tapping sound coming to the room he was in. Mac's mind was too deep in a state of static to know who or what was coming. He didn't even notice that he was staring at the door, waiting, while his vision was fading away.

…Doc opened the door slowly, the metal squeaked quietly as it moved. The air felt unnaturally heavy, and there were papers scattered all over the room he entered in. The trainer felt unnerved from it, especially since he felt like someone was watching him. He noticed the flashlight that was on the counter next to a damaged folder.

"Mac?" he asked quietly to the silence. No response. Doc looked around a bit, wondering where the young man was. He jumped when he saw someone staring back at him dead on in the corner of the room. The person was sitting on the floor; their knees were up to their shoulders. They breathed deeply and slowly, but made no sound. It took Doc a bit to realize the familiar hair, face, and clothing on them due to the dark. It was Mac.

"There you are, you frightened me. What are you doing down there?" the coach questioned, feeling relieved. As he took a couple steps towards Mac, his relief changed to fear. Despite it being hard to see, Doc noticed something was seriously wrong with the boy. His eyes. They were unnaturally small like the beast he turned into before. The trainer was scared; he has never seen something like this happen before. Even with the form being new, this was too strange. He couldn't tell who, or what Mac was at this point, or whether a simple thing can cause him to snap.

"Son, are you okay?" Doc asked nervously, hesitant of coming closer to the boy. Mac did not respond, he only looked at him blankly. The coach slowly walked towards him and crouched down, getting to his level.

"Mac?" Doc asked again, this time fear was hinted in his voice. He placed a hand on the lad's shoulder and shook him a bit, hoping that it will take him out of his trance. Mac did not respond, rather his focus shifted to the counter where the flashlight and folder was. The trainer followed the gaze and wondered what he could have possibly read. He slowly got up and walked towards the file and opened it, ignoring the direction that was written on the front. The man deciphered all he could in almost every report, horrified of what these people had done. He had gotten near the end, but before he could continue, something gripped his arm suddenly. The coach's heart skipped a beat when he saw that it was Mac who was holding his arm. The boy's expression was grim and his eyes were widened a bit, making his small irises look even more shrunken. He opened his mouth, as if he was trying to say something, but not a sound was made. Doc was bewildered by how strange the young man was acting; he knew at this point that something in this document has affected him negatively. He still wasn't quite sure who he was dealing with and he needed to be careful of that. Cautiously, the trainer shifting his attention back to the last few reports, then glanced back at Mac. Surprisingly, the boy also started to look at the papers as well, but his eyes didn't move to indicate that he was reading. He only stared. As Doc began to read and flip the pages, Mac's grip tightened on his arm more. It began to hurt, but the coach decided it was best to not say anything. As he read everything that was left, Doc's heart sank. He finally understood why the lad was so anxious. Silence drowned the atmosphere as the two stood there, looking at the papers.

"This was a lot to take in." Doc said to break the quiet air. Mac only stared at him, but he finally let his iron grip free. The trainer placed the folder on the table and closed it, letting some of the dust flutter about.

"You've been through so much; I can't even understand how people can do such a thing. The world can be the cruelest one sometimes." he continued. He placed a hand on Mac's shoulder, trying to provide some sort of comfort.

"What do you think we should do?" Doc asked softly. The trainer felt that the boy should make the choice in the matter; he was unsure about what to do himself. The words rang through Mac's mind, cutting through the numbness. He closed his eyes and slowly came back to reality. He was aware that he was not mentally there when he thought about what had happened in the last few minutes. He didn't care. He was lost. What do you think we should do? Such a small question, but it felt impossible to answer.

"I… don't know." he finally responded, as he opened his eyes and looked at Doc. The trainer noticed that his eyes were normal again, which gave him a bit of relief.

"It's alright son, you'll think of something." Doc said. He thought of something to add, but before he could say anything Mac interjected.

"How can I? Everything has been hell for the past few weeks and just now I'm just this failure. An abomination. I'm so scared and..." the boy blurted out before breaking down to tears. Doc brought him to a hug, allowing him to sob into his jacket. It took a long while for Mac to calm himself down. He slowly broke the hug and wiped the stray tears with his hoodie, still sniffling at times. The feeling of vulnerability overwhelmed him.

"I'm sorry." the young man said finally.

"You have no reason to be sorry Mac, you did nothing wrong." Doc replied reassuringly. He hadn't seen the boy cry this much since they first met. The lad didn't feel any better, but his mind was clearer than before. He mentally asked himself the question Doc gave him. He knew there was no way he will have a full answer any time soon. There was too much to handle all at once, and there was the huge mystery that was his other self that needs to be solved. But he had one idea. The first step as he would call it.

"Let's get out of here." he said bluntly. Doc gave the young man a confused look for a second. The suddenness caught him off guard.

"Alright Mac baby, but what about-" the coach started, but before he could finish his question, Mac grabbed the folder and went to the cabinet where he found it.

"I'm putting it back." the lad responded as he placed the item behind the storage unit, leaving a bit of the paper sticking out so it can be pulled out again if needed. Doc was beyond confused, wondering what was going through the kid's mind. However, he trusted Mac had a plan and is willing to go through it with him. The two began to leave, Doc led the way to the hidden staircase, and the air was quiet as they headed up.

"I'm curious, why don't you want to take the thing?" the trainer asked.

"Because it's in the past, I'm not that kid. Like, I am, but I'm also not either." Mac fumbled. Doc gave a small chuckle.

"It's alright, I understand. I'm guessing you don't want me to call you by your birth name too huh?" he asked. The boy nodded.

"Ok Mac, with that settled we'll overcome anything." Doc said, cracking a smile. The lad gave a small grin back. He still felt fearful of the future, but having that small form of comfort eased him a bit. Eventually, the two exited the orphanage to the outside. The sky was a dark grey and snow was coming down lightly. They did not say a word when walking, but they had the same thought as the snow fluttered.

…A crowd was heard nearby in a sports arena. It wasn't too large, but big enough to cause nervousness. A figure was in the locker room, shadow boxing. Their shoes tapped on the floor with each step they took. With one strong, special uppercut they threw at the air, the contender felt ready to go out there. They walked out the room; someone was waiting for them on the other side of the door.

"Ready Mac baby?" the other person asked.

"Of course Doc, I'm not gonna bark like a puppy out there." the lad replied. The trainer let out a hearty laugh.

"Alright son, remember what I told you, and knock them out before the bell!" he said enthusiastically. The duo walked out to the main room, the crowd was cheering slightly as Mac went under the ropes and onto the ring. His opponent, a French man called Glass Joe, was taunting him in his native tongue. His orange-red hair bounced as he moved triumphantly to the center. Mac only cracked a smile in response as he made his way there.

"I'm finally here, there's no way I'm gonna give up now." he thought. The referee went in front of the two and put an arm in front of them, indicating the them to prepare themselves. The boxers got into their stances, ready to fight. The referee glanced at both of them, seeing the determination. There was a tension that sparked in the air.

"Fight!" he shouted before throwing his arm up to the air. Mac's boxing career has just begun.


End file.
